


No Chantry Required

by ushauz



Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age II, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Humor, Inquisitor Anders (Dragon Age), M/M, Nonbinary Anders, Nonbinary Justice, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-18
Updated: 2018-06-18
Packaged: 2019-05-24 22:55:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14963784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ushauz/pseuds/ushauz
Summary: “You will be under lock and guard at all times,” Cassandra had said. The only reason they hadn't killed him was likely because of the Fade mark on his hand. “The people do not yet know of your true identity, and we are debating whether or not to reveal it. It would destroy what little hope they have gained.”Anders felt this was all rude, and besides, he was about 80% sure he hadn't blown upthisChantry.In which Anders was at the Conclave, people quickly figure out his identity, and he ends up in a position of power regardless.





	No Chantry Required

**Author's Note:**

> This is for the Reverse Handers Bang on tumblr. The amazing artist I was paired with can be found [here](http://primaryconsumer.tumblr.com) and the picture in the fic.

Varric was mad that Anders hadn’t lied about his identity, which would have been the safe bet. The problem was that Anders had no idea how to come back from ‘wait I thought we were in Ferelden’ when asked why he had blown up the Chantry and then had just resigned himself to the inevitable.

“You will be under lock and guard at all times,” Cassandra had said. The only reason they hadn’t killed him was likely because of the Fade mark on his hand. “The people do not yet know of your true identity, and we are debating whether or not to reveal it. It would destroy what little hope they have gained.”

Anders felt this was all rude, and besides, he was about 80% sure he hadn’t blown up _this_ Chantry.

On the off chance that he had, why couldn’t he remember? And why did he make the blast large enough to kill all the mages gathered at the Conclave? Ergo, he likely didn’t blow up this Chantry. It didn’t quite add up, but Cassandra didn’t seem to care whether or not it made sense. But then, Cassandra seemed to overlook some basic things.

Like the fact that not only was Anders possessed, but also that Justice was not one to deal with mortal trivialities when it was deemed unnecessary, including being imprisoned unjustly for a crime they 80% likely didn’t commit. (Justice seemed to be positive they didn’t at any rate.) Or like the fact that Anders had escaped from Kinloch hold seven times. Which had significantly more Templars, far sturdier building materials, and was located miles away from shore on all directions.

Honestly, Anders thought, having tunneled his way out of the cell in a mere hour—remember kids, magic is useful!—it was almost like they were _asking_ him to break out in the middle of the night and flee off into the distance. (He had left a brief ‘thanks for saving my life’ note to Solas on the cell wall because that seemed the appropriate thing to do if there was a chance he’d never see Solas again.)

Amateurs, you know? As if trusting normal magesbane would last long on him, an abomination now with a permanent shiny connection to the Fade on his hand!

At any rate, Anders didn’t trust these Chantry folk, and they had tried to imprison him. Anders was never really that fond of organizations that tried to imprison him, and anyway, what would it know about magical holes ripped open in the sky?

Nothing, that’s what.

No, for this, he would need to consult mages, as in people who actually studied magic on a regular basis. The mark seemed to fascinate Justice as best as Anders could figure, and it seemed tied to ‘the Breach’, which just seemed to be a giant Rift open in the sky, and Justice already knew how to close smaller Rifts and had done so back in the Blackmarsh. From his very brief introduction to Solas, he could use the mark to close them, but there was something intrinsically satisfying in bludgeoning a Rift with a sword in order to close it.

Yes, going to the main rebel mage stronghold of the region seemed to be the best move. Perhaps they could find a way to pool together their power enough to close the large one in the sky, and Justice could distribute Rift-sealing weaponry. He wasn’t sure how long the enchantment would last, though he did know it lasted at least a day. He also didn’t know if the spell only worked within such a range of Justice, but at the very least he could arm patrols to close the Rifts in the surrounding area which would greatly increase the safety of mortals and spirits alike.

—

Anders was happy to finally meet Fiona who gave him a strong handshake.

“Love your work,” he said, grinning widely.

“You do good as well.” Her eyes caught the glint of the mark, and she bit her lip. “Ah. Oh my.”

“Am I missing something?” Anders asked.

—

“I am fairly certain I am not the ‘Herald of Andraste’,” Anders said. It was unnerving. Here he had gone and confronted his complicated feelings with his religion by blowing up a Chantry, and now people were running around claiming he spoke for Her. Well they certainly wouldn’t do that if they really knew who the ‘Herald of Andraste’ was, he thought sourly.

Anyway, he was about 80% sure he wasn’t some divine herald or the like.

“I’m not saying you are,” Fiona said, “but it isn’t unreasonable that people would ascribe mythical connotations to a man who ‘somehow’ entered into the Fade around the time the Divine died in an explosion large enough the Veil was permanently torn in a giant hole in the sky, survived falling out with succumbing to whatever corruption the magisters of old did, seemingly aided by a glowing woman, and then was able to stabilize the Breach. That is more than most mortals can do.”

‘Aha but I am no mortal!’ Anders wanted to say, but then thought better of it.

“Nor most abominations,” Fiona said, eying him.

“Well.”

“I presume the rumors are true?”

Anders had stopped trying ‘subtlety’ around the time he merged with Justice. “Yes. And we are quite happy together, thank you.”

She looked at him for a moment before shrugging. “Alright. We should probably get down to business with all of the Rifts and pulling in the mage rebellion further, consolidating our position, and pooling our resources to see if we can’t figure out how to close the Breach for good.”

“I’m right there with you.”

—

Anders had apparently done the right thing skeddadling when he could, as the organization that had imprisoned him was currently wandering around calling itself the ‘Inquisition’, modeled after the one of old, and was meddling with various affairs. A _second Inquisition._ Oh yeah, that would end well.

It was strange being in Redcliffe, so close to Kinloch Hold which was currently not in operation. He could gaze out across the water and distantly make out the tower that he had spent so much of his life trying to escape. He’d never stayed long in Redcliffe the three times he had been before as it was but a blip on his way to farther places to where hopefully the Templars would not catch him.

_Acts no mage child will ever have to attempt again._

And now he was in the heart of the mage rebellion once more, except this time with a Fade-singing mark on his hand and with 10% more demons in the surrounding area than there had been in Kirkwall.

...Kirkwall had had Hawke though. It also had Templars, demons, corruption in as many forms as corruption could come in, the Bone Pit, Meredith, and _Elthina_. And there had always seemed something wrong with Kirkwall in a way he could never quite place.

On top of all of the obvious, of course.

Anders sighed, slumping his gangly body against the windowsill, staring out towards the lake. Hopefully Hawke was doing alright in the midst of all the insanity. It was better for him to be elsewhere, since Anders’ current location and now even mere vicinity was a beacon for disaster. Hawke was safer staying somewhere else.

He still missed him terribly though.

—

“I’m not the Herald,” Anders protested tiredly. Anders apparently had no less than two separate cults devoted to him already. Wonderful. Granted one was a pre-existing cult he accidentally acquired, but still. “Can we please focus on the meeting?”

“Andraste saved you from the Fade!” a mage said excitedly. “Andraste looked upon your actions and found them worthy.”

“Or found him _worthy_ of a _second chance,”_ another voice came from the back, dripping with disgust. Okay so people did know about that bit anyway, and he somehow _still_ had a cult?

Regardless, it likely wasn’t Andraste at all. Anders was fairly certain the Maker wouldn’t want him around.

Anders opened his mouth to speak, but another person cut him off. “Shouldn’t it be ‘them’? I mean he’s still beset by a demon. Aren’t you? You don’t look like you are beset upon by a demon, but if there is a demon besetting you, is it ‘them’?”

Justice had once wanted to try a female host body next to examine gender differences. ‘He’ wasn’t sure if he was a ‘he’ at all or a ‘she’ or something else, but gender intrigued Justice regardless. Anders, meanwhile, never saw the whole point about it, never quite feeling like one or the other, but ‘they’ was a clunky pronoun that implied plurality. But ‘he’ wasn’t a proper fit either, nor ‘she’. And now they were technically a plural, but occasionally one of them would do something that wasn’t fully with the other, and that was definitely a singular act, and using ‘they’ all the time if possessed by Justice would make figuring out pronouns for singular acts an even a bigger mess. 'It' hadn't started out having connotations of less-than-a-person, and Justice hadn't paid the matter too much mind, but after several years of being an abomination, 'it' had started to chafe a little, so that was no good either anymore.

Normally Anders just went with 'he' out of partial laziness because the whole effort was a lot of work, and that work could go into other, more important things.

“I- don’t particularly care,” Anders said. “What I do care about are the logistics of the supplies which is what this meeting is supposed to be about. Now you said bandits had moved into the area, preying on the refugees, correct? I assure you, they will not be a problem for long.”

—

A few days and many dead bandits later, it was like almost a sigh, and Anders had the strangest sense of deja vu. Or not quite that, but that something was slightly off kilter in his perception. Then again, he tended to feel that way whenever he had to meet with Magister Alexius. Anders had no idea how some magister could have shown up to try ally with the mages in the events of the Chantry explosion a mere day after the explosion complete with retinue and allies. Not only was it suspicious, it made no sense logistically since according to all of their intel, Alexius had been at least a week’s travel away right before the Chantry blew it.

“That’s because he used time magic to do so,” Dorian said helpfully, leaning forward on the staff that he had just used to bludgeon four demons to death with.

“There’s no such thing as ‘time magic’,” Anders said.

“Well, there _wasn’t_ such a thing as ‘time magic’. I assure you, it’s very much a thing now, and it’s spreading all sorts of nasty side effects. You’ve noticed the temporal disruptions spreading all around Redcliffe?”

“Those showed up yesterday,” Anders said. “Magister Alexius has already been here for two weeks. He arrived a day after the Breach opened.”

“No, yesterday Magister Alexius cast a spell to have already been here for two weeks, and time doesn’t like it when you do that. Though to be fair, this never worked before the Breach. Hmmm. I wonder why if that’s why he showed up right after the Breach opened. Can you not go further back than that?”

Anders wasn’t sure how he felt about Dorian either. “What does he want out of this alliance?”

Dorian looked at Felix who then shrugged. “I don’t know, but I bet it has something to do with the evil Tevinter cult he’s in. It’s led by some ‘Elder One’? Though what he wants with a whole group of mages is beyond me. Nothing good, likely.”

Great. Now there was also a cult to deal with at some point. There were getting to be too many cults to keep track of. Well, first steps first.

“I presume he isn’t going to take a ‘no’ for an answer,” Anders said dryly.

They both shook their heads. “Likely he’d just try to change your mind for you,” Felix said helpfully.

“How far off the deep end has he gone?” Dorian asked Felix.

Felix gave Dorian a look. “He’s in an evil cult, Dorian.”

Anders wasn’t certain if he believed the entire bit about ‘time magic’, but as far as his partial lie-detecting skills could tell, Dorian seemed to believe it, and neither he nor Felix seemed to be trying to mislead Anders, which was something he appreciated in this day and Age. “Well, we can’t have evil cultists running around one of the last strongholds of the mage rebellion,” Anders said. “That is exactly the kind of publicity we don’t need.”

“Are you sure you are the best person to be judging what kind of publicity the mage rebellion does and does not need?” Felix asked innocently, and Dorian smacked his arm.

—

They had confronted Alexius.

Alexius had attempted to cast something on Anders- to undo Anders’ previous actions, to unmake him, something. Dorian had countered with some other form of magic that Anders, despite his many years in Kirkwall, had not seen before, and now both of them were some when else.

“I told you time magic was a thing!” Dorian said, far too brightly for the surroundings, with red lyrium crackling and whispering inside his head.

“Can you get us back?” Anders asked.

“Well, first I would need to know when we were. It’s rather hard to send things scuttling through time without knowing how far to send them and in which direction. I think we are in the future though. I’m sure if there’d been red lyrium infesting Redcliffe Castle at some point in the past, someone would have made a mention of it.”

“But you studied this,” Anders said. “You _can_ get us back.”

“Hopefully!” Dorian smiled in a reassuring manner. Anders was not reassured.

—

Nor was Anders reassured when they finally saw the sky and noticed it just wasn't there anymore. All there was was the Breach. He couldn't tell if it was something inherently wrong with the Breach or if the events in the past year had poisoned it (he hoped Hawke was okay wherever he was), but the Fade felt sick.

Nor was he reassured when the rescued Leliana, the same agent who had talked with Anders and Hawke years back in Kirkwall and had politely informed them of a possible upcoming Exalted march, slit Felix’s throat, causing Alexius to lose it. Definitely not when a literal army of demons began to howl outside the doors, and Dorian attempted to figure out in minutes what he had previous said would take hours to do.

—

Back in the present, Alexius didn’t even try to fight them, nor did he protest being moved to a cell. It was as if all the life had left him in the instant they survived his spell.

He wasn’t sure what to do here. Alexius had committed crimes, and then he had _in the future_ tried to kill himself, Dorian, future-Leliana, and Anders. However this current man hadn’t done those things.

Restitution needed to be made, and he was fairly certain on what to do for the crimes he had committed, but what did you do about future crimes? Especially now that the timeline had been altered, and Alexius was unlikely to do those exact crimes. Did you take account for your own future and the wrongs you will do, or did you trust in the timeline to be mutable, and in that those actions hadn’t happened yet. Except that in one timeline, those actions were ones you had made. Not ‘could make’ but ‘did make’ in the altered past version of the upcoming future.

Time travel confused everything. Perhaps another spirit of Justice would know, but he had never been an expert on the subject to begin with. He sought it, wanted to be it, but he wasn’t the embodiment of it. However he also did not trust a mortal authority on this subject matter since it was a foreign magister involved in twisted magic attempting to deceive rebel mages into indentured servitude.

—

“You tried to kill one of us,” Fiona said. “We could attempt to kill you back, or you could accept surrender to us.”

Alexius smiled brittlely. “The Elder One does not take kindly to failures,” he said, his words an echo of the not-future. “And I am certain my country is soon to disavow my actions  and strip me of rank.”

‘Well it’s nice to know that at least some of Tevinter disapproves of ripping holes in time and working with crazy cultists,’ Anders thought.

“Then instead you will serve the mage rebellion for the foreseeable future,” Anders said bluntly, “and tell us what you know of the Venatori.”

Alexius fell silent then.

“If you are already a failure,” Anders said, “then what do you have to lose?” He then glanced over to Felix, pale but no longer halfway resembling a ghoul. “You are going to die soon, right?”

“That’s ominous,” Felix said. “But yeah.”

“Then do you mind taking a gamble on your life?”

Fiona raised an eyebrow but kept quiet.

“The Wardens,” Alexius said in a clipped tone, “wouldn’t take him in.”

Anders looked over at Fiona who shrugged. “I’m not a Warden anymore, but I know how to do it. If there’s anyone here who technically has Warden seniority, that would be you and thus your call.”

“Do I get to ask why this is a gamble?” Felix asked.

“No,” Anders said. “That’s a secret.”

He thought for a moment and then shrugged. “I’m already dead soon, so why not try?”

Alexius leaned forward. “If Felix lives, then I will tell you anything you want to know.”

“That is not why I’m doing this,” Anders said firmly. “This has nothing to do with you.”

“All the same,” Alexius said. “He lives, you find out what you want to know.”

—

There’d been rumors of darkspawn up near the Storm Coast. Anders and Fiona figured this would be a good opportunity to test the range and duration of Justice’s Rift-destroying weaponry enchantments. Dorian had responded with the same curiosity and enthusiasm over the concept as he had when he had first seen Anders close a Rift with the mark. He hadn’t quite begged for his staff to be enchanted per se, but he had asked nicely.

Felix didn’t know how to fight, nor did he know a lot of magic, but he definitely still would have been thrown face-first into a Circle had he been born down here.

As it turned out, Felix (and Dorian) were Carver’s age. Anders felt a sharp pain at that. Not because he missed Carver; Carver was a complete tit. But he hadn’t seen or spoken to or even written to Hawke in over a month now. Was Hawke doing okay? Yes, Hawke fought like a rogue to cover up his magic (at the beginning, even without having ever stepped foot in a Circle, Hawke had been ashamed of his magic, not just wary of people finding out), but even ignoring Hawke as a mage, the land seemed to be in a constant state of turmoil.

Hawke killed the Arishok, he reminded himself, motioning Felix to stay put as Anders could sense a few stragglers of darkspawn up ahead, and they him.

Hawke killed _Meredith,_ he reminded himself, casually dismembering the darkspawn without really thinking about it that hard.

But one could gang up on a mortal, and most of them bled out if you stabbed them. It would only take one hit or two hits, because mortals were so very fragile, he thought, setting a darkspawn on fire.

He simply didn’t know what he would do if Hawke died or was going to die. However, joining a cult bent on world domination would _not_ be one of those things.

—

As it turned out, the magic that allowed Justice to cause weaponry to dispel Rifts lasted around a day without his presence. It was a disappointment, but there was always the possibility of meddling around and research to keep the enchantments on longer. A number of mages were happy to work with him and consult him on this. Most of them were from the Mages’ Collective and had already been tinkering around with new magics that the Breach now allowed for. The other two were Fiona, for tactical reasons, and then Dorian, because that just seemed to be how he was.

Felix ended up surviving. Alexius began to write down the information he knew.

—

“With a massive undertaking, a large force of mages should be able to bolster your mana directly in order to give your mark the power it needs to permanently seal the Breach,” Fiona said. “We are currently working on the exact formulas and rituals needed, but that is not the only concern.”

“Inquisition forces have been spotted in the area,” a scout said. “They’ve been sniffing around, setting up, and generally making a mess of things.”

“Ugh,” Anders said.

“Ugh,” Fiona agreed.

“And they are sequestered around the land closest to the Breach,” Anders said. “We will have to deal with them before closing it.”

“Do you suppose we could try talking to them directly?” one of the mages asked. “If we explain we are going to try to close the Breach-”

“They think I did it,” Anders said, “so I doubt they are going to trust me here.”

“And they imprisoned you,” another mage helpfully chimed in. “And threatened to execute you. Or worse!”

“Yes exactly.”

“First we need to focus on pulling every last mage in the area into Redcliffe,” Fiona said. “All that will come. No one here trusts the Chantry’s judgment of what qualifies as a peaceful or hostile mage, so I presume arguing my point would be unnecessary.”

Or so one would think.

—

The Inquisition continued to encroach into the Hinterlands and apparently began to pick a fight with every enemy faction, which hilariously enough included a band of Templars. There were still a few unfortunate mages who refused to join up with them, and they likely did not last long. It saddened him as it did back in Kirkwall, but the majority were with him and Fiona in a well-armed castle and protected by two separate cults.

(Anders continued to try to tell them he was not the Herald when he could, but as long as they were there, they could make themselves useful and start tending after the various injured and work on fortifying the village and mending clothing.)

The Inquisition then sent a message to them, asking for a ‘friendly neutral meeting’. Fiona and Anders shared a good, long laugh over it and then increased guard patrols.

The Inquisition of course didn’t stop there, and five days later, Redcliffe got a few visitors.

“You’re armed,” Anders said frostily. “So much for ‘friendly neutral meeting’.”

“You are a mage,” Cassandra said. “And an abomination. You are always armed.”

“And you are a Seeker,” Anders said. “That shouldn’t be a problem for you.”

Cassandra’s brows furrowed, and her mouth opened, but before she could say anything, a woman at her side in elaborate gold and blue finery cut in. “We have heard of your successes in stabilizing the region as well as investigation into closing the Breach and would like to offer you an alliance.” The woman smiled, radiating such sincerity that Anders was almost taken off guard. Almost.

Varric stood behind them both, looking anxious, while Solas even further back looked bored and began to examine the wall murals.

“An… ‘alliance’,” Anders said. “Somehow I doubt what you refer to as an ‘alliance’ and what reasonable people would think of as an ‘alliance’ are the same thing. Are there terms? Conditions? Stipulations?”

“Ah-”

“I do not care for your mortal games,” Anders said. Or maybe that was Justice. “I am preoccupied doing actual work.”

Cassandra’s eye twitched. “There would be-”

“Hold on Blondie!” Varric said quickly, ‘accidentally’ nudging Cassandra hard in the ribs as he stepped forward. “I figured you and Trust Issues would have a hard time listening to any of us, so I brought someone to argue our case for us. You can talk to him in private.”

And then _he_ stepped in, almost shyly, sliding through the door and giving a sheepish wave. “Hi,” Hawke said.

Justice immediately wondered what kind of coercion was going on around here and if he needed to rip Cassandra’s head clean from her shoulders.

“I’m here of my own free will,” Hawke said quickly, and damnit he wasn’t lying.

Anders vaguely noticed the other Inquisition lady ushering everyone out, occasionally nudging them along with a hand or once with a clipboard.

When the door shut, Anders found himself stepping forward, and then Hawke was already kissing him. His breath caught, and he found himself trying to pull Hawke even closer.

When they finally parted (to a degree; Hawke kept a hold of Anders’ hands), Anders found himself breathing a bit heavier now. “And hello to you too.”

Hawke smiled stupidly at him. “It’s been weeks! And you are alive!” He almost made as if to kiss Anders again before pausing. “Augh. Catching up or kissing. Pesky limitations. Why can’t we do both at the same time?”

Anders laughed. “Since the others are probably still outside, maybe catch-up for now. But later in private…?” He raised his eyebrows, and Hawke flushed.

“That sounds- that sounds good to me. Alright. Catching up.” He tilted his head at Anders. “So how ‘bout that recon mission?”

Was that what he had been doing?

“You really need to stop blowing up Chantries,” Hawke said now completely serious.

Wait did he actually think that Anders did it? The rudeness! He still didn’t let go of Hawke’s hands though. “Okay first of all, I only blew up the one in Kirkwall, and I’m almost positive I didn’t blow up this one.”

“’Almost positive’?” Hawke still almost sounded skeptical, damn him.

“I don’t remember what happened,” Anders said. “But I’m almost certain I didn’t do it.” Not unless the Divine had cackled madly with power and had announced wholesale mage slaughter. But even in that case, why blow up the Chantry to the point of ripping a hole in the sky instead of just killing her? It just didn’t add up, even for him. Yes the Conclave had been about trying to reach a _compromise_ , and there could be no compromise when it came to the intrinsic rights of personhood, but the circumstances of the Chantry explosions were very different, and that was a thought he never thought he would have in his life.

Justice was certain he or they didn’t do it however, and that’s what mattered to Anders. “In other news, why are you with these assholes?”

“…okay so a part of it is Varric asked nicely, but I honestly think they do want to seal the Breach and figure out who blew it up, if not you. And the Breach? More than just the fact that it exists, somebody _made_ that.” Hawke shrugged. “Cassandra seems- I don’t think she has a duplicitous bone in her entire body. She's worried, and frankly I'm a bit worried too.”

“She works for the Chantry. She’s the Right Hand.”

“Exactly! The Right Hand. Not the Left. I’d be more scared of Leliana to be honest, but Leliana was the most enthusiastic about working with the entire mage rebellion.”

He wasn’t lying, and the ‘Inquisition’ knew that Anders (and more importantly Justice) trusted Hawke’s judgment. More or less. They almost always went along with what Hawke said, hence why they likely sent Hawke in as a spokesperson who was… being their spokesperson.

And why was _Leliana_ suddenly vocal about pro mage rights?

“I might have some leads in regards to who did it,” Anders said, which was more than what the ‘Inquisition’ had so far. Ha. “Or at the very least, there are a number of coincidences piling up around here.”

“Great!”

“No Hawke, not great,” Anders said. “Do you want to know who is leading a Tevinter cult?” Hawke looked at him expectantly, so Anders continued, “Corypheus. And no, I was hoping that was a coincidence, but Alexius described him right down to striped stockings.”

“But… we killed him,” Hawke said, blinking. “We killed him more thoroughly than we kill anybody. And then we made sure to thoroughly incinerate his corpse and bones to literal dust. Which we then watched drift away on a breeze."

Anders was quiet for a moment. “You know how he had managed to seize control of my body way back when and try to remotely manipulate me and whatnot?”

“Those aren’t comforting opening words,” Hawke said.

“I’ve been hearing the Calling,” Anders said. “But it felt- I’m not sure if it’s because he tried that to me before or if Justice is involved with this somehow, but it didn’t feel right. Which makes no sense because I haven’t ever felt the Calling, so how would I know? But I have felt his voice in my head before, and this is similar enough to be of doubt.”

“I’m sorry, when were you going to tell me?” Hawke asked.

“When I had proof one way or another if it was real or if something else was going on. Or if it was even just my brain being delusional again,” Anders answered truthfully with a dash of bitterness.

Hawke sighed. “Okay, so. This cult is fine with talking orders from a talking darkspawn? Are they all infected like those Carta members had been?”

“Not as far as I’m aware of,” Anders said. “And apparently sometimes magisters ‘just look like that’ and get too involved into body modification, and that he wouldn’t exactly be ‘a lone fashion entity’.”

Hawke paused for a moment. “You know, it’s stuff like that that makes me worried that Fenris wasn’t joking about all Tevinter wine being made from the literal blood and tears of slaves.”

“I know, right?”

“So. Consider working with them? The Inquisition I mean?”

“I don’t _want_ to work with them,” Anders grumbled. “They imprisoned me. They are pawns of the Chantry who are blinded by their own prejudices and cannot be trusted to hold a just ‘Inquisition’.”

Probably Anders.

“If it helps,” Hawke said, “the Chantry has disowned them all as heretics, cut off all supplies, and is actively encouraging their destruction.”

That gave Anders pause, damn him.

“I’m not saying trust them,” Hawke continued. “Just you and Fiona try working out some kind of stipulations and agreements with Cassandra with priority work of sealing the Breach.”

“Why not ‘Leliana’ or that other one who seemed fairly diplomatic?” Anders asked. “If they are more diplomatic and willing to work with us in the first place, then shouldn’t we talk directly with them?”

“The spymaster?” Hawke asked. “One of the sneakiest people in all of Thedas? Oh no, and Josephine would be a worse idea, at least on her own. You’ll end up agreeing to all sorts of favors and be confused on to how you got there.”

“…was Josephine the one who talked you into talking to me?”

“Well… yes. Yes she was. Anyway, maybe her and Cassandra together, with us and Fiona, or at least I heard she’s in charge with you.”

“She’d been running this place long before I escaped from Haven,” Anders said.

“Yeah, and it took what? Eight hours?”

“It took me three days!”

“You were unconscious for those three days according to Varric before you tunneled out like some Blighted mole.” Hawke frowned. “You are too good at escaping Anders. I was all ready to finally rescue you and save you from chains and Templars alike.”

“Damn. I should have waited,” Anders said teasingly. “But I still haven’t heard a single reason to work with them.”

“They’ve got resources,” Hawke said patiently. “Leliana and Josephine both have connections which are one of those unfortunate necessities. They want to close the Breach, and if they are lying and it’s a trap, then you should know, and then at least we’ll know for sure it’s a trap and can move from there.”

“Why are you advocating for this?” Anders asked simply.

Hawke paused. “I guess because despite everything, Cassandra and Leliana seemed sincere to me, at least in the fact that they wanted the Breach closed, and that they would honestly work with you to close the Breach if that is what it took. According to Varric, you escaping put them all up in a tizzy mess. Solas did a lot of shouting, some of it at Cassandra, who then shouted at him, and it was about then that I think Cullen remembered your history of master escape artist when you did live in a Circle. And then they found out that you had ‘seized power’ down in Redcliffe, upon which Cullen apparently remembered you were really bad at actually staying low.”

Haha, that would make Aveline’s day. Anders didn’t like Cullen, but he didn’t like Cullen the way he didn’t like most Templars, which was hatred and contempt but in a general sort of manner. Aveline, however, seemed to have had a personal burning loathing for the man, especially after that time the Templars tried to pass the guards off as not being fit for duty and take over operations.

“’Seized power’? Ah yes, because I started to work with Fiona and actively aid the people in the Hinterlands.”

Hawke shrugged. “You know how people see mages in any kind of position of power at all. Just seizing power left and right, and Maker help you should you actually be helpful with your devious magics and politicking and trying to keep everything running smooth and make things better for the city.”

Anders squeezed Hawke’s hands but said nothing for a while.

“I’ll see if it’s a trap,” Anders said finally, and Hawke smiled.

“And if it goes wrong, we’ll kill them,” Hawke said reassuringly.

—

“Here is how this can go,” Anders said. “You can work for us and aid us in closing the Breach as we are the people who can close it, but we do not work for _you._ We are either full allies with everything that entails, or we do not work together at all.”

Cassandra looked like someone was slowly stabbing her with a rusty nail, but Josephine was nothing but friendly smiles. She continued to ooze reassurance and trust.

“You would hold the Breach hostage-” Cassandra began.

“I am doing no such thing,” Anders said, and he could almost feel himself crackle briefly. (Cassandra started; Josephine remained utterly calm.) “I will close that sky regardless of your aid, but as some people have mentioned, it would be easier and more convenient if you aided us, though granted in regards of closing the Breach, the aid you could give us is staying out of our path and not attempting to kill us while we do so. We are the people with a plan. We are the people with the means to do so, we are the people who already have leads on who might have been responsible for the Breach, and you have come to us already knowing this.”

“Full alliance or nothing at all,” Fiona said.

Cassandra almost opened her mouth before it shut quickly, and Josephine inclined her head. “We are hardly in a position to refuse. We accept your alliance, don’t we Cassandra?”

Cassandra looked from Anders and then over to Fiona. “…if that’s what it takes, then yes. Alliance.”

Damnit. She didn't seem to be trying to deceive him.

—

Cullen was less than thrilled to see Anders. Maybe he’d been hoping Anders would have turned down the alliance. Or would have gone stark raving insane and started ripping off limbs so they could kill him. Cullen made some offhand unkind comments to Anders.

Hawke put an encouraging hand on Anders’ back. After Cullen left, it slid down to Anders’ waist and stayed there for a while.

Leliana meanwhile did seem actually pleased with how things went, again seemingly at odds with her future and past self, and Justice knew he could at least judge past selves safely without having a conundrum over it.

“We are ready to attempt to close the Breach when you are,” Anders said.

Leliana would be the true asset they could gain out of this. While Anders might not trust Cassandra, and while he definitely didn’t trust Cullen, Leliana could provide powerful aid with information.

“Then let’s do this,” Leliana said.

—

The Breach closed. Mages had gotten together, pooled their knowledge, sat down and had figured out through logic and formulas how much magic would be needed to bolster Anders to close the Breach, and it had worked. It was a sense of such pride mixed with this sad knowledge that this likely would be lost on most of the world anyway.

But there had been an apocalyptic problem of magical origins, and _mages_ had solved it.

“You did it,” Hawke said enthusiastically, half bouncing on his feet like he wanted to start making out with Anders, all assembled mages and various Inquisition personnel around them be damned.

“ _We_ did it,” Anders corrected.

“Nothing went wrong,” Varric said to himself. “Something always goes wrong in these stories.”

—

“Yup that’s definitely Corypheus,” Hawke said, peering off into the distance where Cole had pointed as ‘Red Templars’ swarmed through the forest, Templars as monstrous on the outside as Templars were inwardly.

“See? Something always goes wrong,” Varric said, stringing up Bianca. “’Oh why don’t you settle down, Varric, and have something to drink?’ ‘It’s a celebration, Varric.’ ‘Stop being so paranoid, Varric.’ ‘This isn’t one of your predictable stories like _Swords and Shields_ Varric.’”

“I never said _Swords and Shields_ ,” Hawke said. “I specifically did not name that story, and this really isn’t the time.”

—

Anders also got to confirm up close and personal that it was, indeed, Corypheus.

The silver lining was, whether it was his previous encounter with Corypheus or the mark or Corypheus having overextended himself or any mixture thereof, he could not seize control of Anders’ body or mind. This seemed to annoy him. Just ‘annoying’, like Anders was a slightly bigger cockroach than he had thought earlier.

And then the signal was lit, and Anders sent the mountain crashing down around them.

—

Waking up hurt. Moving hurt. His entire body was a giant hurt. He focused for a moment, head pounding, and he let resolve replace injury.

He stood easy then and made quick work of lingering demons in the area. They were no threat to him, but the blizzard outside would be. He bit his lip, thinking. Out there could and would be a slow death from the cold. He could try setting up someplace secure here, but there was the chance the entrance to the tunnel could be covered up in snow if he waited, and he wasn’t sure how secure this area was to start with.

It was fine, he told himself. The worst of the weight was already on there, so the cave system was likely to be sturdy and not result in a cave-in leaving him trapped in a small, lightless place for eternity. And cold was a nasty killer. He knew that from his childhood and earlier escapes and resultant brushes with death. The cold was a far bigger threat to him, and staying in a sturdy place out of the wind where he could hunker down and maybe start a small magical fire was the right idea.

At the very least, he should wait until morning for the wind to die down and the sun to rise bringing light and heat to the area.

Yes, he decided, that was his plan.

At least until the ceiling started to groan around him. Anders couldn’t bolt out of there fast enough.

—

Did he end up with regrets? Yes. Yes he did.

—

The Inquisition somehow knew how to find him. Either that, or trying to avoid the howling of wolves had somehow herded him towards the camp, but that seemed ridiculous.

The camp was simultaneously wonderfully full of people and not large enough. Hawke had survived and had plastered himself to Anders’ side.

Mostly Anders was run down on mana from Haven, his healing, and then trying to keep himself warm after his idiotic dash out of a slightly enclosed area. He would be fine, and he kept that quiet as Hawke tentatively sent a small stream of healing magic through their entwined fingers. Hawke did have not much strength in healing magic, never did, but he was using magic in a public area. On Anders.

Because he loved him.

He caught Hawke’s eyes—faint hesitation, fear, concern—and rested his head on Hawke’s shoulder, at least until Anders had to go break up a verbal fight and then get dragged off by Solas.

—

Solas had asked for this to remain a mysterious matter.

“Solas found a castle nearby from his travels into the Fade,” Anders said bluntly. “As it is shelter, we will be traveling towards it.”

“That’s certainly… fortunate,” Varric said, with undertones Anders couldn’t quite place but sounded suspiciously familiar, like how most people sounded when Anders talked about ‘oh yes I fell from out of the Fade’ or ‘yes I do vaguely remember a glowing woman, why?’

 _Cassandra_ was starting to look at him like that as well. You too, Cassandra?

Granted it was indeed fortunate, and granted sometimes he had a weird, nagging feeling around Solas that he felt like he should place but would inevitably forget about later.

He was sure it was nothing important.

—

Mages once again proved invaluable. Healers were needed, as was any source of flame. Others helped clear out a trail so people didn’t have to slog through wet snow, never a good thing. And just as Anders had seen in Darktown, almost always those in great need have a hard time saying no, and then they see the helpful wonders magic can do for mankind when mages are finally allowed to use the gifts He gave them in order to serve those in need.

And then one day, when out scouting, he spotted it. There, shimmering in the distance, and after all the snow and cold and wet it was a beautiful sight to behold.

"Finally," he said.

 

 

“It looks sturdy,” Hawke said from right next to him. Hawke had yet to leave his side unless absolutely necessary. Anders had no complaints.

“And magical,” Anders said thoughtfully.

“You can pick that up from here?”

“No,” Anders said. “But look at the roofs. No snow. There’s snow everywhere else and not a hint of anything green in these mountains, but I think I can make out some trees in the courtyard.”

“Oh,” Hawke said awkwardly before nodding. “That makes sense about magic then.”

“Which will mean it should be warm enough to help the wounded and infirm,” Anders said. “Those that have made it anyway.”

They both stood there for a moment, staring at the castle. “I really thought we killed him,” Hawke said. “I know what you said earlier, and I thought I believed you at the time, but seeing him again? Though I guess if after centuries the Wardens couldn’t figure it out, it was a bit presumptuous to think a small band of reckless idiots could.”

His insides quarreled. Part of him wanted to say it wasn’t Hawke’s fault, that it was the Wardens’ fault or even just Corypheus’ fault with no one else to blame, that Hawke couldn’t have known what was going to happen, that Hawke was a victim in all this as well and really, who wouldn’t have thought Corypheus was dead? Part of him wanted to say yes, regardless of intentions, this was how things turned out, and as long as Hawke had some capability of restitution, it was within his purview to aid those hurt or help take down what he had unknowingly unleashed.

“We will fix this,” one of them said instead, taking Hawke’s hands in their own.

Hawke half-smiled. “Sure. I’m not sure how, but sure. Though if anyone could, I’m certain it’d be you.”

“What do you mean by that?” he asked with a laugh.

Hawke squeezed their hands. “Love. Loves. You somehow got into the Fade, fell out of it, met up with the mage rebellion in the area, created an elite team of Rift-repelling mages, got into a peck of time travel, survived that, met Corypheus again, had a mountain fall on you, and then hiked through miles of snow in the middle of the night in sub-freezing temperature. And that’s just been in the past few _months.”_

Yes but he was not of mortal kind, so that didn’t count.

…he was halfway of mortal kind, but that all _still_ didn’t count. That was just surviving things. Any sufficiently stubborn cockroach could survive those things as well. Anders had met a few from his time in the sewers.

It also sounded like what almost everyone else was saying, and his smiled dimmed.

“I’m not saying it in a ‘Maker sent you way’,” Hawke quickly added, leaning forward slightly. “Though wouldn’t that be hilarious if He did send you? Take that, Chantry! But you are among the most determined, _capable_ people I’ve ever met.”

‘People’. Persons. Just two people of some gender merged together. Sometimes it was the little things that made him happy. Sometimes it was large victories in mage rebellion, but sometimes it was the little things.

“I’m trying to cheer you up,” Anders said, feeling heat on his cheeks.

“Well that’s too late because I’m busy trying to flatter you,” Hawke said. “Deal with it.”

“I kinda want to kiss you right now,” Anders said, “but I’m also afraid that if I do our lips will freeze together, and that just sounds embarrassing.”

“Can that actually happen?” Hawke asked.

Anders laughed. “It’d still have to be colder than this for that.”

“Regardless, it makes fine motivation for helping everyone get to the castle already, don’t you think?” Hawke said. “Victory smooches. And then- well it’s a big abandoned castle. I’m sure we can find a secluded enough corner that isn’t a tent with four other people in it?”

Anders thought for a moment, meditating on potential conflict of interests, before concluding there were none. “That sounds fantastic.”

—

It took a day to get everyone into the castle. It would take far longer to get everything in some order of semblance and order. Josephine had plans, because she always had plans and back-up plans for her back-up plans, being spun at the moment of scheming on her latest plans to get everyone to play nice and give her what she wanted because it was the best thing for everyone, really.

They found a new meeting room, one perhaps fashioned for just such a purpose as sound would not leak through the doors.

“We are certain on this then?” Cassandra asked.

Cullen kept his tongue, instead intently studying the map they spread out on the table.

“I honestly thought you would keep shooting for Hawke,” Leliana said teasingly.

“Hawke may have been instrumental at keeping Kirkwall at some level of peace for years, a feat almost unheard of,” Cassandra said, “but he was not the one who rallied the mage rebellion into a force capable of closing Rifts and then ran off to seal the Breach. And while Fiona may barely be a safer public figure and with a bit more direct experience, Anders does have the Anchor which is a powerful thing in the eyes of the- _public,”_ she uttered that last word as one might a particularly odorous disease of the bowels. “I can concede to him being a more logical choice if we are to succeed. However, I do not think he would accept the position.”

“Which is why we aren't going to ask,” Josephine said brightly. “I thought one of us could lead him up to an area in full view of the public where we then spring it on him, so to speak. You would be surprised to what people will agree to when they are thrown off guard.”

“Are you sure it’s wise to pressure a powerful abomination like that?” Cassandra asked. “And I’m not sure he’ll go for it. He is not exactly fond of the Chantry.”

“It gives him more power to aid mages, the one sole thing he cares about,” Cullen said. “He might have an internal conflict over it, but he’ll take the position. I have already given my thoughts on why I do not think it is wise to make him the leader, but I have already voiced those.”

“Repeatedly,” Leliana said.

“And as the Chantry has made very clear, we are not in any way representatives of the Chantry,” Cullen continued. “Though I doubt they will be pleased with this decision.”

“Well maybe they should have tried playing nice from the start,” Josephine said crossly.

“Please don’t tell me this decision is primarily fueled by revenge,” Cassandra said.

“It’s too late,” Leliana said. “Now you go try to lure him up onto that platform right beneath the entrance to the castle proper, and I’ll go get the ceremonial sword.”


End file.
